Our government came into office in 2018, focused on fulfilling the promise of delivering Naya Pakistan to our voters. We wanted to provide education, jobs and better healthcare by leveraging our connectivity infrastructure to foster regional trade and investment. We knew that this would require a peaceful neighbourhood.
The BJP government thrives on inciting hate and violence against religious minorities - especially Muslims - and builds political capital by sabre-rattling against Pakistan. Indeed, India's penchant for brinkmanship brought our two nuclear-armed countries to the brink of war in February 2019. If tragedy was averted, it was only because of Pakistan's restraint and no thanks to India.
On August 5, 2019, India imposed an armed siege and communications blackout on Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir . Since then, thousands of Kashmiris, including minors, have been arrested and tortured. Popular Kashmiri leaders, like the 91-year-old Syed Ali Shah Geelani, have always been at the receiving end of Indian state repression.
As Pakistan had warned, the Indian government is proceeding with the enactment of illegal measures to effect demographic change in Kashmir. The displacement of the local population by non-residents in an internationally disputed territory is a violation of international law and, in particular, the Fourth Geneva Convention. The entire spectrum of Kashmiri political leadership has rejected these moves by the Indian government to create "settler colonies".
What will the Indian government do then? Will it resurrect the familiar bogeyman of "cross-border terrorism" to smear the Kashmiri freedom struggle? Will it manufacture another crisis with Pakistan to deflect attention from the never-ending stream of scandals that keep rocking the BJP government? There is only one solution. India needs to reverse its actions of August 5, 2019, and create conditions for a result-oriented dialogue with Pakistan and the legitimate representatives of the Kashmiri people towards the resolution of this long standing dispute.
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